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Topic: John Digweed - Kiss 100 Classics : Show 001

John Digweed - Kiss 100 Classics : Show 001

Kiss 100

Kiss 100 is a radio station broadcasting to London on 100.0 MHz FM specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and electronic dance music. Kiss FM began in October 1985 as a pirate radio station, which broadcast across South London and subsequently across the whole city on 94FM. It attracted a huge following before finally acquiring a legitimate licence in 1990 - it was thought to have commanded in the region of 500,000 listeners even as a pirate station. It was first set up by Gordon McNamee (later its Managing Director till Dec 1997) and his friends; Tosca, Pyers Easton and George Power. Gordon Mac approached a successful London club promoter, Guy Wingate, to discuss ways of improving Kiss' profile and Wingate then launched the hugely successful Kiss nights at the Wag Club (which included the first ever Acid House party, an idea put forward by Kiss DJs Colin Faver and Danny Rampling).

These nights gave the station a credibility boost and the new team, DJ roster and an army of helpers took the station forward through a combination of grim determination and clever marketing and in 1988, the Department of Trade And Industry advertised the first new radio licence in London for many years. Kiss pitched hard but despite colossal public support, the licence was awarded to Jazz FM. In the weekend that followed, the Kiss team roamed London building up an enormous petition that was delivered on the Monday morning to the Home Secretary. A short time thereafter, new licences were advertised - this time Kiss and its loyal army of listeners, were rewarded. On 1 September 1990 Kiss re-launched as a legal station, its studio and offices located on the Holloway Road. Ten years later they picked up one of the hottest and most respected DJ’s on the planet.

The rest, as they say, is history.

John Digweed: 10 Years on Kiss 100

Doesn't ten years pass so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that an exciting and forward thinking radio show appeared each Friday night on an ex pirate radio station based in London. This show was a little bit different, it featured a DJ truly at the top of his game holding down the most iconic residency of that time, while recording the show in between flights on Concorde across the Atlantic.

Many things have changed over the years, the time slot became a Saturday, many iconic labels have folded to be replaced by new labels with equally exciting music to take us into the future. The hair is certainly a bit longer, and many many thousands of miles have been clocked up flying to the far reaches of the planet all in the name of quality electronic music. As the music evolved, so did the name with Transitions being a title synonymous with forward thinking electronica - in fact the tagging of music whether it's techno, tech house, deep house, progressive, breaks, electro or dub-step has been incidental. You can always be assured that you'll be hearing the very best in new music regardless of new trends and fads. Strictly no compromise, one of the main reasons the show has endured, grown and spread its wings to 28 countries and 43 stations across the globe.

John's radio shows and live mixes have always been special & greatly anticipated. Some of sets provide one of the few lasting memories of a club tenure that was all too brief (Twilo, Yellow, Code Club Complex). One thing hasn't changed over the intervening period - that's the quality of the music and John's love & passion for searching out the latest new tunes and obscure b sides to bring you something that's truly special.

Regrettably some good things have to come to an end, with Kiss deciding to end their syndication of the show which perhaps doesn’t fit quite in with their own rise and turn down a commercial path that is a long long way form the stations original pirate roots. But rather than admonish Kiss for their decision lets celebrate that fact that the 10 years of their association with John gives us something that has endured and grown organically - here’s to another 10 years of Transitions across the planet and beyond.

In the meantime lets start delving into the back catalogue and extensive [ms] archive, starting where it all began. So sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride as we go back to September 2000. As ever, this one deserves to be turned up LOUD!

John Digweed's Kiss100 shows were launched at midnight on Friday September 2nd 2000, at a moment in time when the term Progressive House was en vogue with 'Communicate' released just two months earlier and GU 019 : Los Angeles being formulated/tracks road-tested. With a mandate to bring listeners exclusives from some of the best producers and DJ's on the planet there was also a commitment to showcase new talent. It's fair to say that John has remained true to his word over the years, following these values without compromise.

The New York vibe and US influence in John's sound at apparent the time. Hey, what do you expect, after all Diggers was in the midst of one of the most sought after residencies on the planet at Twilo in New York so the likes of Danny Tenaglia and Yoshitoshi's Deep Dish were bound to have an influence. Deep Dish also provide the first guest mix with a set recorded live at Bedrock (Heaven).

Appropriately the first track aired features Tenaglia on remix duty, was recorded at recorded at MAW Studios (NYC) and is taken from the sleeve of one of the most iconic electronic labels ever. What a great way to start.

Featuring the vocals of Danny Tenaglia & Kevin Osborne (founder of the 'Sounds Unique' label) and written/remixed by DT, Redanka (Andy Holt) and Tarrentella (Chris Bourne) 'B' was also used by Sasha at the start of his Space (Ibiza) Birthday and Octopus (Tel Aviv) sets. The flipside gave us 'Danny's Love Parade 2000 Dub' while the second 12" featured 'Danny's Space tErracE Mix' and a Christian Smith & John Selway Remix. Tarrentella & Redanka already had pretty decent form together, having remixed Talkin' on CD1 on GU 013 and Andy Lings 'Fixation' (feat. on Steve Lawlers 'Home' comp for the short lived London superclub).

One of the UK's largest progressive labels, releasing numerous #1 records to the world. Its changing styles throughout the years did much to guide the tastes of DJ's and dance floors around the world. Probably best known for rereleasing the mid-90's dance floor hit "CafÈ Del Mar" by Energy 52, which remains a dance floor classic. It specialized in progressive house and progressive trance, although later releases dabbled in breaks, deep house, electro and ambient flavours. It originally shut down in mid-2003 due to ongoing financial difficulties, but after a 4 year hiatus Hooj Choons has made a full scale return.

Next up is a fantastic piece of work from Sean 'Q6' Cusick and Christopher 'DJ Three' Milo. Forming part of the 'Multiple Mirrors EP' with 'Orbit' arranged in segments this track also formed a key part of Twilo resident Q6's sets. The EP was released on Rabbit In The Moons 'Hallucination' imprint in the US and Blackpool-based 'Shaboom' in the UK (2002).

"New Chaos from in-house enigma Three, and Orlando's latest effort against the decline of debauchery in N.Y.C., Sean Cusick. Beautifully Strange... lo-fi never sounded so high!"

Incidently, as 2000 was a less digital age, Sean Cusick was one of the selective/trusted bunch of DJ's to fill in on John's Kiss show while he was away on tour.

Next it's back to Hooj via 'Future Grooves Vol. 2', with a track that was an integral part of John's sets c/o Rui Da Silva (aka Teimoso) who was responsible for some of the best music of the period (think 'Touch Me' + remixes of Brothers Love Dubs & Bedrock's Beautiful Strange). 'Riding' was massive for Diggers, subsequently featuring on his 'Code Club Complex' live Kiss set and GU 019 Los Angeles box set (CD1). Based on the final release date it looks like this was quite an up front track.

Unsurprisingly John's Kiss100 show also allowed him to showcase tracks from his emerging Bedrock imprint. This was a period of exemplary music, and although the names have changed since it's great to see Bedrock continue its ethos of producing top notch music that also embraces quality remixes. Case in point, then emerging Steve Lawler's 'Rise In' had Main Vocal and Dub versions before Nalin & Kane and Omid '16B' Nourizadeh were let loose.

Although many listeners have focused on the live sets that have been aired over the past decade one key point to emphasise is that (to this day) the music featured is lurking in John's record box and features in his current live sets. So if you are a DJ that is influences by the music Diggers plays live Transitions should still form part of your weekly listening.

Kicking out of Persia via South London and a key producer of this period, Omid 16B has left an endelible footprint on the progressive scene ranging from Communicate's 'True - The Faggot Is You (16B Remix)' to remixes of 'Your Lovin' and 'Music' (GU 019). More recently Omid is part of the SOS collective with Desyn Masiello and Demi and has started to release music again via Bedrock with the superb ‘Rain’ being one of 2011’s standout tracks to date.

Jimmy Van Malleghem has been a great friend of John's since his first trips to Florida playing at the likes if Simons. This relationship continued to grow, through a stunning twin CD Bedrock compilation followed by Van M being an instigator and factor behind the 2002 Delta Heavy tour.

Released on UK trance and progressive trance label Fluid (established by Evolution) and penned with support from Barry Jamieson (one of Sasha's core production team for Involver and Invol2ver) 'E.C.I-P.S' had already featured on Communicate. Here we get the Medway treatment.

Jesse Skeens (better known as 'Medway') operated out of Orlando, FL and is best known for his The Baseline Track (GU 013 Ibiza) Flanker (GU 014 Hong Kong) Resurrection (GU 009 San Fran) Mr Release (GU019 LA) and remixes such as LSG's Into Deep (GU 014 Hong Kong) and UNKLE's Invasion, with his work appearing on labels like Hooj, Fade and SAW. Although perhaps not on peoples hot lists Medway is still producing the goods for the likes of Hooj and microCastle via http://soundcloud.com/medway and http://www.medwaystudios.com/

DC Born Jim Duvall aka (Devol) came to Bedrock's attention after recoring 'Rude Spaces' for Saeed and Palash's Addictive Records, with the label heads also turning in a very nice remix."I was so surprised when John Digweed called me to tell me he was interested in tracks that I had done. I think that day I almost shit myself. I just hope the DJ's like the tracks as well as the club goers. Hell,without those two things I am nothing."

Chicago-based deep house guru Tim Shumaker and Brooklyn-based musician Tim Kvasnosky are Home and Garden. Featuring the vocal talents of the late Nkemdi Amadiume who sang on Creamer & K's 'I Wish You Were Here', with that emerging NYC duo also turning in an RSVP remix, later going on to remix ECVM's 'Circuit Breaker' on Jimmy Van M's classic Bedrock mix series before putting out their own release for this series in 2002.

Show 001 : Guest Mix from Deep DishDeep Dish Live at Bedrock : 03-August-2000 part 1

Deep Dish are the duo of Dubfire and Sharam. Originally from Iran, they took root in the Washington, DC area in the early 90's and established themselves as top-flight producers and DJ's, releasing several mix-cds (most notably "Penetrate Deeper") and building production credits on Tribal Records and their own Deep Dish Recordings.

They had successful collaborations with BT and Carl Craig, and several of their remixes were instant classics, including their remixes of "Hideaway" by De'Lacy, and Sandy B's "Make The World Go 'Round". Their "Yoshiesque" and "Global Underground: Moscow" mix-cds brought them massive acclaim around the turn of the century. They run the popular house label Yoshitoshi Recordings, as well as its sister labels Shinichi and Yo!.

More lately they have branched out on their own with Dubfire now running SCI + TEC Digital Audio.

Re: John Digweed - Kiss 100 Classics : Show 001

Reading Simon's post was quite an emotional experience. I'm serious! - I think I know intimately and loved all of those tracks - this music was my (almost) all consuming passion at the time and seeing the roster of Plastic Fantastic DJs on the Bedrock Flyer reminds me of the hours I spent there and the friends I made. I remember that Diggers played the Insect track (which sounds like a wasp stuck in yer headphones) at Fabric and just almost laughing out loud at its novelty and instant appeal. Thanks for that Simon. The amazing thing for me is that 12 years later, older, not much wiser but (certainly) fatter there is still new music that gives me the same rush. Are we not lucky?